Downtown Events April 2 - 15

Main Street Downtown:

April 14: Las Cruces Space Festival.

2 p.m. to 8 p.m.: Virgin Galactic SpaceShip II replica, at City Hall.

3 p.m. registration, 3:30 p.m. walk starts: Space Walk on Main Street. Come dressed as your favorite space character, real or fictional, or alien. Registration will be at City Hall, organized by the Downtown Partnership. Free to participate, prizes will be awarded for the best costumes.

Making Space for Everyone at Plaza de Las Cruces. Special showcase with more than 20 booths, will include: Spaceport America, Virgin Galactic, Jacobs Technology, White Sands Missile Range Museum, New Mexico State University College of Engineering, Challenger Learning Center, Las Cruces Academy, F.L.A.R.E., Las Cruces Museum of Nature & Science, Girl Scouts of the Desert South West, New Mexico Museum of Space History, Harley-Davidson, Cruces Creatives, and more.

April 6 to June 2: “Storyland: A Trip through Childhood Favorites,” from the Minnesota Children’s Museum. In this highly immersive and engaging exhibit, families will discover the power and joy of reading at any age. Children will step into the worlds of “The Tale of Peter Rabbit,” “The Snowy Day,” and “Where's Spot?” Interactive activities such as matching, rhyming, poetry, and storytelling help set the foundation for literacy, by encouraging children to love books, learn words, tell stories, read everything, know letters, and hear sounds.

10 a.m. to Noon, Thursdays, April 6 to June 2: Storyland Scavenger Hunt. Join us Thursdays for hands-on explorations of the exhibit “Storyland: A Trip Through Childhood Favorites,” on loan from the Minnesota Children's Museum. Each week, the museum will provide a list of sights and sounds for families to search for, just like in the book “Where's Spot?” by Eric Hill.

10 a.m. to Noon, Saturday, April 14: Culture Club – Australian and Aboriginal Flag Symbols.

Museum of Art. Information: 575/541-2137.

February 2 to April 7 – “Politics on Paper: Art with an Agenda,” from the Syracuse University Art Collection.

10 a.m. to Noon, Saturday, April 7: “Artrageous,” Michelle Reader.

1 p.m., Wednesday, April 11: Film screening of “Monticello: Home of Thomas Jefferson.”

2:30 p.m., Wednesday, April 11: Reading Art Book Club. “Dr. Kimball and Mr. Jefferson: Rediscovering the Founding Father of American Architecture,” by Hugh Howard.

10 a.m. to Noon, Saturday, April 14: Artrageous – Yuken Teruya.

10 a.m. to 1 p.m., Saturday, April 14: The Art of Ikebana. Ikenobo Ikebana flower arranging is an artistic expression within structured rules to create a unique art piece that highlights color combinations, natural shapes, graceful lines, and the meaning behind the final form. Traditionally, this art form was practiced in Japan by samurai and aristocrats to help focus their minds and create inner balance. Join Ellen Morgan for this workshop as it takes you through the history of Ikebana while giving you the opportunity to create a personal arrangement of your own. Free, pre-registration is required. Class size is limited to 10 participants.

9 a.m. to 1 p.m., Saturday, April 7: NanoDays, The smallest things can make the biggest impacts! Discover nanotechnology at "the Biggest Event for the Smallest Science!" with hands-on explorations and facilitated demonstrations at the 11th annual Las Cruces Nano Days!

*Children must be accompanied by their well-behaved adult caregiver. *
* Caregivers welcome.

Live theater:

Black Box Theatre. Information: http://www.no-strings.org, or 575/523-1223.
“Waitless,” by Cailin Harrison, Directed by Ceil Herman. Performances at: 8 p.m., Friday, April 6; 8 p.m., Saturday, April 7; 8 p.m., Saturday, April 14; and 2:30 p.m., Sunday, April 15. “Waitless” is a unique new play exploring the challenges of uprooting. Waitless is a play about expats, written by an expat. This “backwards love story” starts with a happy ending: blissful newlyweds Shelly and Trent find love, top-notch careers, and excitement in New York City. But with a transfer to London for Trent they must swap this for a new life in London. Shelly gives up her dream job to follow her heart, only to find expat life is not all it's cracked up to be.

Las Cruces Community Theatre. Information: lcctnm.org.
April 13 to April 15: One-Act Play Festival. Free admission. Featuring short works, many original, many written by local writers.

Rio Grande Theatre. Information: riograndetheatre.com.

7:30 p.m., Thursday, April 5: Thursday Night Music, presented by friends of Visit Las Cruces. Doors open at 6:30 p.m., music starts at 7:30 p.m. Admission: $5, cash only, at the door. Concessions, including beer, wine and spirits will be available for purchase. A performance by the CW Ayon Duo. Dance ready and dipped in soul, the CW Ayon Duo is a one-man band mixed with a Willie Dixon-styled slap bassist bringing Blues styles from the hill country of northern Mississippi to the mud of the Rio Grande.

5 p. m. to 8 p.m. Friday, April 6: First Friday Art Ramble.

8 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays and 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturdays, March 2 to April 28: Southwest Calligraphy Guild Member Exhibit. Free admission. The Southwest Calligraphy Guild founded in 2005 is an organization whose purpose is to provide a forum for people interested in the art of beautiful writing. Members come from many walks of life and backgrounds with calligraphy skills ranging from beginners to the highly accomplished. This congenial group enjoys sharing their talents with each other and guests. The group studies the art of calligraphy as well as related creative subjects such as bookmaking, papermaking, watercolor, marbling, journaling and much more.

7 p.m., Saturday, April 7: The Crystals, featuring Remember Then. Doors open at 6 p.m. show starts at 7 p.m. Admission: $35, tickets available online at: riograndetheatre.org, or at the door. Reserved seating ticket purchases are not available on mobile devices. Concessions, including beer, wine, and spirits will be sold. When Phil Spector discovered The Crystals, not one was yet out of high school. Their first recording, “There’s No Other (Like My Baby)” was also their first hit which catapulted them straight to the Apollo Theatre. They continued their successful recordings with five more Top Ten records: “Uptown,” “He’s A Rebel,” “He’s Sure The Boy I Love,” “Da Doo Ron Ron,” “And Then He Kissed Me.” Two of the Top 50 most popular records in the Rock ‘n Roll Hall of Fame belong to The Crystals. The group has scaled from five members to three. The Crystals now consist of Dee Dee Kenniebrew, who was there from the very first recording, Patricia Pritchett-Lewis and Mel Soul Tree.

3 p.m. Tuesday, April 10: Why Quilts Matter, Episodes 1 and 2. Doors open at 2:30 p.m. Free admission. Concessions including beer and wine will be sold. Why Quilts Matter: History, Art & Politics is an exciting and thought-provoking nine-part documentary series that will change the way you think about quilts. Uncover the unsuspected size and depth of quilt culture. Delve into the inner workings of the art world, explore behind the scenes in the quilt marketplace, and journey into the complicated, kaleidoscopic world of quilts. Explore two centuries of history, watch as women gain power from their handiwork, and consider the nature of art itself. Presented in conjunction with “Life Along the Rio Grande,” an exhibit will be on display at the Branigan Cultural Center April 3 to June 9.

7 p.m., Thursday, April 12: Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Doors open at 6 p.m. Free admission. Concessions including beer, wine and spirits will be sold. After an accidental encounter with otherworldly vessels, an ordinary man follows a series of psychic clues to the first scheduled meeting between representatives of Earth and visitors from the cosmos. The movie is presented by the Mesilla Valley Economic Development Alliance (MVEDA), as part of Space Week 2018.

7 p.m., Friday, April 13: The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. Doors open at 6 p.m. Free admission. Concessions including beer, wine and spirits will be sold. Mere seconds before the Earth is to be demolished by an alien construction crew, journeyman Arthur Dent is swept off the planet by his friend Ford Prefect, a researcher penning a new edition of “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. The movie is presented by Burgertime, as part of Space Week 2018.

Noon, Saturday, April 14: (Movies at the Rio Grande - Children's Matinee) – Toy Story. Doors open at 11 a.m. Free admission. Concessions will be available. Woody, a good-hearted cowboy doll who belongs to a young boy named Andy, sees his position as Andy's favorite toy jeopardized when his parents buy him a Buzz Lightyear action figure. Even worse, the arrogant Buzz thinks he's a real spaceman on a mission to return to his home planet. When Andy's family moves to a new house, Woody and Buzz must escape the clutches of maladjusted neighbor Sid Phillips and reunite with their boy. The movie is presented by Virgin Galactic, as part of Space Week 2018.

7 p.m. Friday, April 13: (Movies at the Rio Grande – Classic film) The Searchers (1956). Doors open at 6 p.m. Admission: $8, available online at riograndetheatre.org, or at the door. Concessions, including beer, wine and spirits will be sold. The Searchers is a 1956 American Technicolor VistaVision Western film directed by John Ford, based on the 1954 novel by Alan Le May, set during the Texas–Indian Wars, and starring John Wayne as a middle-aged Civil War veteran who spends years looking for his abducted niece (Natalie Wood), accompanied by his adoptive nephew (Jeffrey Hunter). Critic Roger Ebert found Wayne’s character, Ethan Edwards, “one of the most compelling characters Ford and Wayne ever created.”